Experiences
by SingBenihime
Summary: Having known each other for over 2,000 years, Jushiro Ukitake and Shunsui Kyoraku have too many memories. Drabbles are fun! :3
1. Film

"Hey, Jyuu, guess what I borrowed off Kurosaki-san?"

"Um…special 'real world' sake?"

"No. Though that would have been good."

"Oh. What is it then? And please get your hands off my eyes; I already know who you are, Shunsui. It kind of ruins the surprise if the person being surprised already knows the surprisee is."

"It's a video!"

"We don't have a video player."

"Nuh uh! We do now! I borrowed that as well!"

"Cool."

"Wanna watch it with me?"

"Yeah, fine. What film is it?"

"_Forrest Gump_."

Jushiro sighed and took the large hands off his eyes. He leant his head backwards and stared up into his best friend's warm, brown eyes. Shunsui grinned and did the peace sign with his fingers, before turning around and running towards the TV, shouting excitedly "You'd better get your ass off that chair and come over here."

"We're watching it now? But I've still got loads of work to do. Can't we watch it later?" replied Jushiro wearily, scanning the mounds of uncompleted paperwork in front of him with disdain.

"You can do your work later. This is more important," protested Shunsui, as he plugged the various wires into the TV, looking slightly confused at where to put them.

"Yeah, _Forrest Gump _is definitely more important than getting personally grilled, literally, by Genryuusai-sensei for not handing my paperwork in on time."

"Yes!"

Jushiro grinned slightly at his friend's immunity to sarcasm.

"In any case," said Shunsui, as he successfully plugged in all the right cables and beamed proudly, "You need a break from work once in a while. And this is your kind of film; it has sad bits, happy bits and funny bits. It has a bit of everything really."

Jushiro smiled and said jokily "Well, it's much better than those porno films you wanted me to view."

Shunsui scowled. "I was drunk!"

"Okay, okay," said Jushiro, putting his hands up in defence and laughing, "Let's just watch it."

He stood up and walked over to the corner of the rooms. He grabbed two big, red, squishy beanbags and pulled them to the centre of the room, in front of the TV.

"Okay, Jyuu-kun, it's in and set up! Shall we start?" asked Shunsui excitedly, as he plopped himself down on one of the beanbags and sunk down comfortably.

"Yeah, hang on," replied Jushiro. He shook his sleeve and a couple of bags of sweets fell out. He grinned and shook his other sleeve too; making bags of marshmallows fall out. Then he reached inside his haori and uncovered dozens of mini packets of gummy bears, murmuring "I was meant to save these for Shirou-chan, but I can buy more for him later, I suppose."

He glanced up and laughed loudly at Shunsui's expression.

"I call Hitsugaya-taichou Shirou-chan, because we both have white hair and we both have shiro in our names and…" he explained patiently, thinking that was the reason the other man was so gobsmacked, but he was interrupted by Shunsui.

"I already know that. I was just surprised at how you can fit so many sweets in your haori, without anyone noticing!" he exclaimed, pointing at Jushiro in shock.

"Oh! Right! Well, that's my secret," replied Jushiro mysteriously. He winked and laughed again at his friend's face, before settling down in his beanbag and dumping the sweets in the space between them. "Let's go!"

Shunsui beamed and pressed 'play' on the remote, and the film started.


	2. Food

"Excuse me, are you purchasing?"

Jushiro looked up into the irritated face of the shopkeeper, flushed, straightened up and put one hand behind his head. He glanced down at Shunsui, who was still bent over and was studying the various confectionaries with interest and longing, and nudged him hard with the crook of his elbow. Shunsui gave a little yelp and, taking his hungry eyes off the cabinet, proceeded to glare at Jushiro, whilst rubbing his ribs.

"Yeah, sorry," said Jushiro apologetically, rubbing the back of his head and grinning bashfully. The Shinigami nodded once, his brow still furrowed in annoyance, and waved his hand in an exasperated way that said 'order now, please!'

"I'll have the _tokkuri saichu_, please!" said Shunsui enthusiastically, accompanied with an animated point towards the wafer. The shopkeeper raised his eyebrows quickly to indicate that he understood, and turned towards Jushiro, who said pleasantly "And I'll have the chocolate cake, please."

The shopkeeper inclined his head and bent down to get the orders. A moment later, he handed the plate with the slice of chocolate cake to Jushiro, and the _tokkuri saichu _in a serviette to Shunsui. The 13th Captain gave the shopkeeper the money, who muttered a quick "Good day, thank you for purchasing at Kuriya," before turning to the next customer.

Jushiro and Shunsui gave a grin at each other and automatically headed to their favorite table, next to the window. They pulled out the white, patterned chairs, sat down and immediately started on their food.

"Byakuya'sh sho lucky. He getsh to eat here fhor fhree 'cosh the shopkeeper ish part of hish shquad," muttered Shunsui enviously, his mouth stuffed with wafer and bean jam filling. Jushiro nodded and wiped a smear of chocolate off his lip, before replying cheerfully "Not like he eats here anyway. I think it would be too… how do I put this…" Jushiro pouted and quirked an eyebrow, imitating Byakuya, "too lower class."

Shunsui chuckled appreciatively and did the same face, "Yes, I think so too, old chap."

"Indeed."

The two men laughed simultaneously and carried on eating.

"I love eating here," said Shunsui, with a smile. He stuffed the last of his wafer into his mouth and swallowed. Picking up the serviette and cleaning his fingers, he watched Jushiro calmly shove huge forkfuls of chocolate cake into his mouth.

"I'm surprised how much you can fit in that mouth of yours, Jyuu," stated Shunsui, quirking his eyebrows up. Jushiro grinned and ate the last piece of cake, before replying jokily "Nearly as much as I cough out."

"Ew."

Jushiro chuckled and leant back in his chair, before saying thoughtfully "I'm still not full."

Shunsui's mouth dropped open.

"What? Not after we've visited 4 shops and eaten at least a plateful in every single one?" he exclaimed, with a tone of disbelief in his voice.

"Nope," replied Jushiro, dabbing his mouth with the unused side of Shunsui's serviette.

"Not even after 2 servings of pickled _ume ochazuke_?"

"Nope."

"But it's your favorite food! You said you liked it because it was filling!"

"Yeah, it is," murmured Jushiro, deep in thought. His face suddenly cleared and, oblivious to Shunsui's look of astonishment, he said hopefully "Can we go back and have some more?"

Shunsui sighed, but stood up and gestured for Jushiro to follow him, which he did happily.

"Thank you, Shunsui!"

"No problem, Jyuu-kun."


	3. Hair

"Can I try something with your hair, Jyuu?" asked Shunsui, as he absentmindedly twiddled a strand of his own long, brown mane around his finger.

Jyuushiro groaned. "No. Remember when you dyed my hair black because you wanted to see how I would look with my natural hair colour, and it turned out grey, like Genryuusai-dono's. And all the new Shinigami's kept asking me how old I was."

"Oh yeah." Shunsui looked up and grinned encouragingly. "But I don't want to dye it this time, I want to plait it."

"You want to WHAT?"

Jyuushiro's feelings on this matter were obvious.

"Plait it," repeated Shunsui patiently, "And then you can go around with it in and attract lots of ladies."

Jyuushiro blinked. "Why would I want to try to attract ladies? Are you forcing me to take up your habit?"

"No. And I don't try to attract ladies. I DO attract ladies," retorted Shunsui, snorting at the very idea of him not being appealing to girls. Jyuushiro scoffed, but nonetheless continued the conversation.

"No, Shun. I do not want my hair plaited," he said again. Shunsui grinned at his friend's stony expression, before shuffling over to face Jyuushiro's back.

"Shun, I said no."

"But it will look good! I swear!" whined Shunsui, clapping his friend on the shoulder encouragingly. "If you don't like it, you can take it out, okay?"

Jyuushiro said nothing.

"Please? I'm really bored and I love playing with hair. And I can't do it on anyone else; Nanao-chan hits me with her fan if I even attempt at asking and Matsumoto-chan insists that her hair's fine how it is, and that boys like it." He paused, and then murmured slyly "Which it is. But that's not what boys look at anyway. But I suppose she's covered either way, knowing her monsters."

"Spoken like a true pervert, Shun," stated Jyuushiro distractedly, as he turned the page over on the book he was reading. Shunsui grinned and whipped the book out of his hands, before scanning the page (and ignoring the protests from Jyuushiro). He smirked knowingly and said "Well, seems to me like you're the true pervert here, Shirou."

"Shut up." Jyuushiro snatched the book back and closed it with a loud thump. "You just caught me reading at the wrong bit in the book. It's an adventure, not a freaking porno."

Shunsui grinned. "You wish-OWW!"

"Now shut it," retorted Jyuushiro as he tucked the book into his arms (much like Nanao).

"Anyhow," continued Shunsui, rubbing his head defiantly, "About this hair problem. How about we strike a deal?"

Jyuushiro glanced up, frowned and looked back down again, but there was no doubt that he was listening.

"How about if I can plait your hair, and you keep it in, you can style my hair any way you want and I have to keep it in too. Yeah?" compromised Shunsui, "That's fair, isn't it?"

Jyuushiro grinned. Evilly.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay," he said in a low voice. Shunsui beamed, oblivious to Jyuushiro's cunning mind at work, and took the long white hair in front of him in his hair. Jyuushiro yelped at the sudden tug, but sat perfectly still, his hands folded in his lap. Shunsui smiled and separated the thick hair into 3 strands. Starting at the pallid nape of his neck, he then started plaiting Jyuushiro's ashen hair slowly and carefully. His big hands looked almost too clumsy for this, but they worked deftly and professionally.

After a while, he sat back and admired his work. Holding the end of the long plait, his reached behind his head with his free hand and tugged at his hairband. His long, curly brown hair tumbled down his back as he successfully retrieved the blue band and wrapped it securely around the end of Jyuushiro's plait.

"See? That wasn't so bad," said Shunsui cheerfully. Jyuushiro fingered his tied up hair uncertainly, but, sticking to his promise, let his hand fall back down again.

"Now it's my turn!" exclaimed Shunsui, putting his hands to his cheeks as if surprised, "What are you gonna do to my luscious hair?"

"Doing it like Unohana's."

"NOOOOO!"

"Hehe…"


	4. Sleep

"Yoink!"

Jyuushirou grinned as he watched his best friend wriggle and place a weary hand on top of his head, before pausing and patting his mass of brown curls confusedly.

"Wheresh mah hat…?" Shunsui murmured, as he attempted to open heavy-lidded brown eyes. He pushed himself upwards out of his slouched position in the chair and started patting his hair again. After finally concluding that his beloved hat was not on his head, he let his hand slide down his face and over his eye. He let out a sigh. "Jyuu, gimmemahatback…"

"No way, lazybones."

Shunsui opened his eyes fully for a second, and then narrowed them. "I am not lazy! I've just sat by you for a whole goddamn 24hours without any sleep. I just nodded off for a minute. Gimme a break." He paused. "And my hat, please."

Jyuushirou reached up and started twirling a strand of his long white hair around his finger thoughtfully. "And I appreciate that very much, although it is quite frightening to have someone like you, a perverted and unruly man, sit by my unconscious self into the dead of night."

"Very frightening indeed," agreed Shunsui, nodding, "Now give me my hat."

The white-haired Captain laughed, and held out the precious item, which Shunsui grabbed immediately.

"So how are you?" he said casually, placing his hat back on his head lovingly. He tilted it sideways slightly, a style that he had so often said to his best friend was 'hip', and let his trademark lopsided grin spread over his face.

"Fine," replied Jyuushirou. He suddenly gave a couple of heavy coughs, and turned away, flushing.

Shunsui winced inwardly, but carried on smiling as he usually would under these circumstances with his friend. He knew Jyuushirou didn't particularly like being treated like an invalid; it made him feel weak.

"How are you?" asked Jyuushirou suddenly.

Shunsui blinked. "Uh, good. Compared to some…"

Jyuushirou blushed fiercer.

"I mean, considering my total lack of sleep. I'm pretty sure my system's gonna collapse any second now," finished Shunsui. Both men chuckled, and then paused awkwardly when their small laughs had petered out into silence.

"Thanks for staying with me, Shun," whispered Jyuushirou finally, smiling slightly. Shunsui nodded once and leaned back in his chair again, closing his eyes and murmuring "You'd better be thankful. Nanao-chan's so gonna get on my case in the mornin'..."

His mouth dropped open slightly as he promptly fell asleep.

Listening to the loud, snorting snores his friend was emitting, Jyuushirou smiled fondly and curled up in his own bed, awaiting sleep.


	5. Voice

"Kyoraku…"

Cracking one eye open uncertainly, Shunsui listened hard for that creepy, croaky whine again.

"Kyoraku…"

This time it was accompanied with a sharp prod to his arm.

"Who is it?" said Shunsui alertly, sitting up promptly and placing his hands on both of his sword's hilts. He felt the presence move behind him, and he stood up rapidly and whirled around to face…

Ukitake.

Shunsui blinked. "Jyuu?"

"WOOOOOOOOH!" whispered Jyuushirou, grinning. He brought his hands up to his face and curved them over, wiggling his fingers, doing a Japanese imitation of a ghost. He gave a light cough and paused to cover his mouth, before continuing to 'scare' Shunsui happily.

"What the hell are you up t- oh." Shunsui chuckled. "You have a sore throat again, don't you?"

"Mhm." Jyuushirou stopped flailing his arms about, and instead let them droop, along with his expression. "I tried asking Kiyone and Sentaro to get my cough syrup, but they couldn't understand me, so I tried to repeat it, but they started arguing. Again."

"So you thought you could come to your loyal best friend, who would be willing to do anything for you?"

"Yup!"

"Tough shit. Get it yourself," said Shunsui, as he dropped back down to his previous sitting position on top of the roof. "Anyway, you shouldn't be out at night here if you have a fever."

"It's just a cold."

Shunsui looked at his friend bemusedly. "If it's just a cold, then you should be able to traipse all the way to 4th."

Jyuushirou let out a whine like a wounded dog, and plopped himself down tiredly next to the 8th Squad Captain. "I don't wanna. It hurts." He looked around quickly and whispered something so quietly, that Shunsui had to ask for it again.

"Ya'what?"

"I said," whispered Jyuushirou in a low undertone, "Unohana-taichou always gives me a scary lecture about not looking after myself. Its much easier if someone else gets my medicine for me."

Shunsui laughed and placed one hand on the other man's shoulder. "Now I understand. Unohana-chan is a very scary person, despite her gentle nature." He shuddered. "Very scary…"

"Indeed," agreed Jyuushirou, nodding. "Remember back on the morning where Urahara Kisuke was officially promoted to Captain, and you…"

"We," corrected Shunsui.

Jyuushirou grinned. "No, I'm pretty sure it was YOU saying how she was scary, and then appeared behind us."

"Freaky."

"Quite."

The two men smiled and looked up at the starry sky contently.


	6. Time

Tick.

Tick.

"Tock."

Tick.

"Tock."

Tick.

"Tock."

Shunsui looked sideways at his friend. He frowned. "Why are you doing that?"

With the smallest of movements, the weakest of hand gestures, Ukitake pointed to the clock. His expression was of the utmost confusion, presumably wondering how his friend didn't know this, as he said quietly "I'm helping it."

"You what?"

"I'm helping it finish its cycle," explained Jyuushiro patiently, "Otherwise time can't continue."

Silence. Then, "Honestly, I don't know what goes through your mind when you're on drugs." And with that, Shunsui ducked back behind his magazine, Seireitei Communication. He grinned slightly as he spotted the Shinigami Women's association's latest fund-raising mission, and their most successful picture slap-bang in the middle of the page (being the only one without full blown nudity – Kira-fukutaichou and Hisagi-fukutaichou actually – or having no spikes taking up the majority of the photo): A topless Ukitake pinned to a tree. He shuddered with fear- who knew Soifon was so good with her kunai? He would have liked to shown Jyuushiro the article, but...

"Tock."

Shunsui bit back a laugh, knowing that his drugged up friend would take it wrongly if he even so much as snorted at his little ritual.

"Shun-kun, could you help me?" asked Jyuushiro in a small voice. The 8th Captain lowered his magazine, leant over and nodded once. Ukitake carried on with a smile. "Thank you. Could you move those flowers on the windowsill a bit more to the right? I asked Unohana-taichou earlier, but she didn't move them far enough."

"Sure," replied Kyoraku, pushing himself up off the chair and walking over to the windowsill. He moved the vase slightly to the right. "Better?"

Ukitake frowned. "You moved the vase, not the flowers."

"Oh." Shunsui looked down, his mouth in a small 'o'. He moved the vase back and pushed the flowers gently, trying to get them to move but not wanting to break the stalks. The stems refused to co-operate, the vase was too small and he was way too irritable to do it correctly. With a flick of his fingers, the flowers flopped to the right, but broke halfway at the stem. He grimaced. "...sorry."

Ukitake gave him one look of contempt and said nothing. He rolled onto his side, facing away from his friend, and was still.

"Jyuushiro?"

"I knew I couldn't do it."

Kyoraku paused. "Pardon?"

"I was giving time help. So the flowers would have more time to grow and would be stronger, so that if someone tried to break them, they couldn't. Only they broke anyway," murmured Ukitake. With that said, he fell silent once more.


	7. Eye

"And so we have placed some Kuchiki Rukia in the real world, in the town of Karakura..."

Ukitake was struggling to stay awake. It had been bad enough that last night was absolutely stifling hot, and he didn't get to sleep until 5am, but Genryuusai-sensei's voice droning on and on just made it all the more difficult to prevent himself from falling asleep on the spot. AND not only was he tired, he was bored out of his skull. Captain's meetings had always bored him; they were dull beyond belief, enough to make even Kuchiki Byakuya wander off to his happy place in his head (as noticed by Shunsui, who stands next to said Captain in the line, one time when the Noble was heard muttering about unicorns). Personally, Ukitake would rather be handing out sweets to his little Shiro-chan. His thoughts moseyed to Kuriya for the 5th time this meeting.

A sudden cough interrupted his mental trek through candyland. He glanced to his right and sighed when he saw the perpetrator.

"What is it, Zaraki-taichou?" he asked tiredly. Kenpachi scowled, indicating he would rather not be doing this if it were his choice, as blatantly stated when he spoke in an undertone.

"This is annoying and none of my business, but he said that if I didn't, he'd stop providing my alcohol." The ruthless 11th Captain rolled his eyes, but nonetheless carried on. "Kyoraku wants you to look at him. He wants to give you a message." And with that, he gave a kind of grin and turned back around.

Ukitake sighed, but nonetheless raised his head and looked opposite him. His eyes travelled over Kurotsuchi-taichou ('Shudder...') and Hitsugaya-taichou ('Shirou!'), before finally resting on his longest friend. Shunsui beamed and started motioning with his hands. First he pointed to Ukitake, then to himself. His hand flew up to his face and gestured to his eye. Then he shrugged his shoulders and continued to smile broadly at Jyuushiro.

Heaving a sigh, Ukitake shook his head – no, he did not want to play I Spy. Definitely not in front of their sensei, who would most probably frazzle their butts if he caught them playing a game during his Captains meeting. With this thought, he looked in alarm at the Soutaichou, who was still droning on. When he was quite sure that the coast was clear, he made eye contact with Shunsui once again and mouthed "No! He'll burn our asses!"

Shunsui laughed out loud. Ukitake facepalmed.

"Kyoraku-taichou. Is there a problem?" growled Yamamoto warningly.

"Uh, no, Yama-jii. Sorry," replied Shunsui, a crafty smile dancing on his face. "I was just..."

"Because if you find entire villages being destroyed and razed because of some silly riot funny..."

Shunsui blinked. "I don't."

The old man nodded once, settled with shooting his student a scowl, and then continued with his speech. Suppressing a chuckle, Kyoraku went back to trying to convince Ukitake to playing I Spy, who was most definitely not having any of it. The pink clad man ignored the various mute protests from his friend, and gestured to himself. He prodded his chest, then pointed to his eye, murmuring "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with z!"

'Zanpakuto' was Ukitake's immediate response, tapping Sogyo No Kotowari tiredly. Shunsui blinked, and then beamed. He nodded excitedly, and then pointed to Jyuushiro, indicating it was his turn.

'Well. At least it'll pass the time,' thought Ukitake as he whispered, a grin plastered on his face, "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with k."

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey, can you guess what Jushiro's I spy object was? ;) **

**Here's a hint - it's on someone!**


	8. Hospital

Jyuushiro opened his eyes slowly, so very slowly. He winced. Adjusting to the light gradually didn't seem to work in the slightest. Groaning, he went to lift himself up off the bed with his hands, but stopped halfway and bit back a pained moan.

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

His eyes flicked to the right, the source of the voice. He sighed. "Impeccable timing as always, I see, Shunsui."

Kyoraku gave a grin, pushing up the brim of his hat so his face was uncovered. "Not really. Because, as always, I've spent the night here! Hoorah!" His face dropped. "Although that's not to say that this chair doesn't need some cushions, or this room another bed."

Holding back a smile, Ukitake popped the question that had been in his head since he had woken up. "Uh, Shun, why do my ribs hurt? They don't usually."

"Ah, well, that's just it, my dear friend." Shunsui looked down. "You, ah... well... your ribs are...broken."

Jyuushiro blinked. "Pardon? I don't recall this."

"Well, um, you wouldn't." At this point, Kyoraku had plucked his hat from his mop of curly brown locks and was now twirling it around awkwardly in his hands. "Do you remember Kurotsuchi-san asking to perform an experimental operation on you to attempt to counteract your disease?"

"Yes. But I said no. Do you not remember what he did to that poor new Shinigami last month? And Kurotsuchi-taichou was only promoted 2 years ago! But if he did THAT to the man's hands without actually touching him, I dread to think what he would do to my body in all physical contact."

Kyoraku coughed. "Yeah, well, he got...he got a bit annoyed, shall we say, at your 'infuriating' refusal. So, he, ah, he decided to, well, kidnap you."

"Kidnap...me...?" Jyuushiro looked worried.

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as to call it kidnapping. He merely put a drug in your drink..."

"MERELY?"

"Yes, well, he put a drug in your drink. You fell unconscious. He whipped out his secret weapon, cute little Nemu-chan, who did her Captain's bidding and dragged you, rather inappropriately, to Kurotsuchi-san's lab."

"And then...?"

Kyoraku blinked. "And then he performed his operation." He smiled guiltily. "Unohana actually said he might have been on to something, since she thoroughly checked you out afterwards, probably worrying about what that guy did to you, and proclaimed that your body looked healthier than it had in a while."

Jyuushiro flapped his hands impatiently, saying "Yes, yes, yes, but what did Kurotsuchi actually DO to me?"

"He called it Thoracoplasty. Apparently, his simple description of it was 'Six to eight ribs are broken and pushed into the thoracic cavity to collapse the lung beneath. It is a disfiguring operation, but it avoids the need for repeated procedures.'"

Ukitake's eyes widened.

"Yes, Jyuu," said Shunsui gently, "Before you ask, he broke eight of your ribs."

One word was declared from the now sick_ and_ disfigured man. "Bastard."

* * *

**A/N**

**I am so sorry for taking such a long time to update. What with work and college and stuff, I didn't have enough time to write fanfics. And then I kinda forgot about all my stories. It wasnt until I saw one of my fics on a page while I was searching for Uki fanfics that I remembered I hadnt finished all of my fics. D:**

**Buuut, I'm kinda getting back into writings fanfics now. Although needless to say I do need to polish up my writing again XD **

**Oh! And thank you for the reviews/favs/subscribes :) Always appreciated/loved 3 **


	9. Belief

_Where are you? _

Panting heavily, Jyuushiro stumbled through the frozen overgrowth, desperation bubbling up inside of him like a volcano about to erupt. He's tired and his entire body is numb from the cold, but he will not stop. He can't stop. Not now.

_I'm __so close; I can sense his reiatsu already. _

Yet, his lungs cried for air, for rest.

_But no, I'm not going to cease looking for him. Even if the illness strikes once more and blood rises up within me, I will not stop until I have found him._

_Where are you?_

At last he saw him, just a distant figure, but him all the same. He'd recognise the other man any day, even without his pink flowery haori or his basket hat (none of which he is wearing right now). Jyuushiro allowed himself a small smile, a victory smile if you want, as he ras faster towards the broad-shoulder man.

"Shunsui!" Jyuushiro yelled, happiness overriding his worry.

There is no answer.

"Shun?" He finally reached his friend and placed his own hand on the other's shoulder. Kyoraku Shunsui tilted his head backwards to look at him, and Jyuushiro's smile immediately drops. Shunsui's expression is one of misery, of loss, and of loneliness.

_I __cannot counter it with a hopeful smile._

Shunsui stared at him for a long 10 seconds, before lowering his head and returning to gaze at the ice-covered lake. "Hey," he said finally.

Jyuushiro flinched; Shunsui's voice scared him. It sounds hollow and eerie. Definitely not the tone of voice he usually uses.

It is to be expected though.

"Mind if I join you?" Jyuushiro asked, baring his teeth into a grin. He held it there as if someone had nailed it to his face.

Shunsui nodded silently. The white haired man sat himself next to him, taking away his hand from Shunsui's shoulder as he did so.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Shunsui murmured. Jyuushiro turned towards him and blinked. A kind of longing expression is etched upon his friend's weary face.

Nonetheless, Jyuushiro cocked his head towards him slightly and attempted a half-hearted smile. "It is indeed."

"I thought you'd agree," said Shunsui quietly. His lips quirked upwards into a small smile, but it is gone as suddenly as it appeared. "It's very pretty… just as she was."

Jyuushiro cannot reply, because his throat is choked up. He didn't know what to say anyway. He hadn't ever thought that he was the best comforter in the world, although others frequently did. His thoughts were different though:_ Sure, I can say a few consoling words that I have repeated a thousand times, and I can wrap an arm around his neck, but this is different. It is more personal. _

An awkward flush spreads over his face in an instant, as he saod, in what he hoped was a calm and affectionate voice, "She would have liked that."

Shunsui snorted. "I told her a million times. She'd always reply with a perverted comeback."

Jyuushiro smiled. "Yeah."

Silence reigns over the desolate, snowy land once more.

"Little Nanao Ise misses her too," said Shunsui, cutting away the emptiness around the two Captains. "I only just remembered about their reading session on the first day of every month. It was quite sweet really."

Jyuushiro nodded weakly, not really knowing what to say. His heart was as silent as a fish at this precise moment in time.

"Jyuushiro?"

He looked away from the icy grass that he had been picking at idly and transfered his gaze to his best friend. "Hm?"

"Why does my heart ache?" Shunsui looked at him, his wide brown eyes pleading. "Tell me. She was just my Lieutenant. Just a partner. And she died heroically."

"I don't know, Shuns-…"

"Is it because I sent her to help, when really I was sending her to her death? Am I guilty? Is that why my heart hurts?"

The white haired man sighed softly and turned away from his desperate partner. "Shunsui, you're not guilty," he murmured, hoping his tone of voice is coming out as controlled as he'd like to think it was. "You both did your job. She willingly obeyed you, because she respected you and loved you as her superior."

"I sent her to her death. To her murder!" growled Shunsui, his voice getting louder. The other man flinched back. He blinked at Jyuushiro, then understood his wariness and controls his own temper.

"But, you know, Jyuu, I have a very worrying gut feeling."

"Which is?" Jyuushiro asked curiously.

Shunsui placed his hands behind him on the soft, white snow and leaned back on his elbows. He remained like that for a while, while he reasoned on whether to tell Jyuushiro or not. Being best friends for over 2 millennia, Jyuushiro knows of everything he does, inside or outside his head.

He closed his eyes, emitted a slow sigh, and felll to the ground with a loud thump. He rest his hands behind his head and said quietly "I feel as though she's alive."

"That's a natural reaction, Shun," Jyuushiro replied, patting his knee.

Shunsui shook his head like an annoyed dog. "No, not like that. My gut feeling is that she's alive out there somewhere. There's a light inside me that hasn't been extinguished. It's her light. She's alive, I know she is." He lifted his torso up and surveyed his friend through heavy-lidded eyes. "Believe me, Jyuushiro."

Jyuushiro weighed Shunsui's words in his mind. True, it didn't feel like she's dead, even for him, but that just might be, like he said before, a natural reaction. However, his best friend has never lied to him. But if Lisa Yadomaru were still alive, as were Captain Hirako and the others, then they would be a threat to society. _They_ _have been Hollowfied, damnit!_

But he believed him. "I do, Shun."

"And I know what you're thinking, Juu; they will be dangerous. Yes, I believe they're all still alive, Jyuushiro. But what if they can control their inner Hollow? As I understand, someone, possibly Urahara Kisuke, probably not – although he did invent it – used it on low-ranking Shinigami, but they died and disappeared. From what I can see, this person wanted to experiment on more powerful Shinigami, to see if Captain or Lieutenant level Shinigami could withstand its effects. I believe they can."

He'd never spoken truer words. Ukitake believed him fully.

"So," he continued, leaning back on the ground, "If I ever see them again, I won't be surprised. And if I see Lisa again, I will comment on how pretty she is, or how pretty she's gotten since now. Because, of course, her beauty will merely accelerate through the years, never wither." He smiled; a proper, goofy, Shunsui-like smile. "Right?"

Jyuushiro laughed. "Right."

* * *

**A/N**

**Again, I'm really sorry for the delay.**

**In fact, I've resorted to using buffer stories to keep this going. The last two chapters have been on my computer for a while as a buffer, just in case I needed something to keep this story going. (Also, sorry if I mucked up on the tenses a bit. This was originally a first person from Ukitake, but I changed it to keep with the format for this story. It was quite awkward editing it in some parts.)**

**I'm really stuck up with work and college coursework, especially since I'm in my last year now. And I have a stinking cold. **

**But no more excuses! I promise I shall have another up within the next month!**

_As always, reviews/fav/alerts are loved 3_


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